It doesn't seem all that long ago we
were getting excited to see CD-R speeds
hitting 8x and wondering where it would
all end. Now we have more or less reached
the limits of CD-R technology with drives
peaking at 52x and unlikely to push beyond
this any time soon. The good news though
is that this doesn't sound the death knell
for the optical drive market because following
hot on the heels of the CD-RW drive comes
the next generation of optical storage,
the DVD-RW.

DVD-RW, like their CD-RW brethren, have
quickly moved from being an incredibly
expensive niche technology to an affordable
mainstream solution that not only offers
all the benefits and convenience of the
CD-RW but also comes with significantly
more storage space.

Although
the vast majority of DVD-RW drives are
currently specified to run at 4x, this
summer saw new 8x drives announced from
Plextor, Samsung and Toshiba. As we often saw with the
developing CD-R market the media is lagging
behind somewhat but we hear that regular
4x media from Taiyo Yuden, Mitsubishi
Chemicalsand Ricoh can handle 8x recording
speeds.

So why is it that we can burn a CD
at 52x but we're still only just hitting
8x for a DVD? What we tend not to realise
is that 8X DVD±R is roughly equal
to burning a regular CD at 72x which for
the record would involve spinning your
blank CD media at a rather scary 12000
RPM!! So does this mean you can theoretically
use your new 8X DVD±R
to burn CDs at 72x then? Well unfortunately
no. There's more to burning a CD than
just spinning it faster otherwise we'd
be seeing 72x CD-RWs on the shelves right
now, the motors are certainly up to the
task, it's the media and the pickups that
are letting the side down. And the pickup
in your DVD burner has an even bigger
disadvantage than the one in your CD-RW
because its primary function is to write
DVDs which means it must focus its lazer
to deal with 0.6mm of substrate. Throw
in a CD and suddenly it has to adjust
itself to focus through 1.2mm of substrate.

These difficulties with the pickup
have tended to peg CD writing speeds at
a fairly pedestrian 24x though Plextor's
PX-708 drives have already pushed on and
hit the 40X mark for CD-R and 24X for
CD-RW. Achieving high CD and DVD write
speeds within a single drive was a challenging
achievement and it's perhaps not surprising
to find Plextor once again setting the
standards pretty much as they did with
their CD-RW drives.

With great quality, impressive warranties,
regular firmware updates. a superb website
and a reputation that comes only with
hard work and great products today's drive
already has a strong pedigree, time now
see if it's a mongrel!

There
are already mumblings about the next step in
the evolution of DVD recording which would be
dual-layer recording. Dual-layer recordable
technology has already been demonstrated but
the release has been and continues to be delayed
by the inevitable concerns of the movie industry
who see it as just another useful piracy tool.
No doubt when dual-layer drives make it to the
shelves Plextor will be right there heading
up the pack but for now the PX-708A is the pinnacle
in DVD burning, so let's take a closer look
at it.